Uttarakhand: Court order to register FIR in journalist's suspicious death, 7 fellow journalists accused of murder

Haldwani: A local court has ordered to lodge FIR in case of a journalist's death under suspicious circumstances last year. The order is yet to reach Kaladhungi P.S. under whose jurisdiction body of Devender Singh Patwal was found on January 1, 2018.

Devender Patwal was Bureau Head of TV100 in Uttarakhand, He was found dead last year under suspicious circumstances.

After more than six months of his death, no FIR was registered although many organisations and his family had repeatedly tried for it.

Mother of slained journo Ms. Ganga Devi had approached some associates of CAAJ after which a senior advocate of Dehi High Court Anand Mishra took up this case and filed a fresh writ petition in Nainital HC.

This case was raised in the National Convention Against Assault on Journalists by CAAJ last September where Ganga Devi put up her testimony in session presided over by Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh.

Now after full one year, the court has ordered to lodge an FIR in this case. The case assumes significance as the petitioner Ganga Devi has named 7 fellow journalists as accused.

Full copy of order below:

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Raipur: Journalist attacked by BJP workers in party head office, FIR lodged against three BJP leaders

In an unexpected and abrupt manner BJP workers in Raipur party office Ekatm Parisar attacked a journalist on Saturday evening, snatched away his mobile camera and deleted the recordings of the ongoing party review meeting.

After BJP's defeat in recently held assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, party had organised a review meeting in its Raipur head office that was being covered by many journalists. The meeting went out of track when party workers started sloganeering and infighting. A journalist with The Vice News Suman Pandey was recording the events as usual with his mobile camera. BJP workers spotted him and started pressurising him to delete the video.

When the journo did not relent, they started beating him and snatched his camera. Pandey was injured in this clash. He got a severe cut on his forehead.

Local journalists are infuriated at this episode. Pandey has lodged FIR with the local police naming three BJP leaders including BJP district president. Journalists are on a si…

Releasing: Compilation of cases related to assault on journalists

Media is often referred to as the fourth estate or the fourth pillar of democracy after executive, legislature and judiciary. It not only holds the government into account but also provides easy access to information to the citizens of a country. But in the last few years, Indian media has shifted its role from being a watchdog keeping the government in check to a “pro-nationalistic” and propagandists entity. On top of that, the increase in the attacks on journalists in the past few years have further shrunken the already small percentage of factually correct, critical and analytically unbiased opinions and news reports.

India slipping from 136 to 138 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index is an illustration of increasing violence against journalists. Gauri Lankesh’s murder and the increase in online threats using the same as an example adds another variable to the equation complicating the situation of freedom of press in India. The blatant and outrageous way in which Gauri’s murder…

For Endorsement: Journalist Sandhya Ravishnkar's letter to Chennai CP on threats and intimidation

Chennai journalist and member of this group Sandhya Ravishankar has been facing numerous threats and intimidation for her stories against illegal sand mining . Over the last few weeks, the threats and intimidatory tactics have intensified. She has filed complaints with the Chennai Police Commissioner but no action has been taken as yet. The letter is addressed to the Chennai CP seeking immediate action on her complaints. Pls endorse it.

Committee Against Assault on Journalists

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